Not So Suite Amnesia
by TheVeryWorstWriter
Summary: Cody hits his head in a freak accident and doesn't remember anything.


**I had tried to write a longer version of this story on deck, but it never fit just right. Here's the old Not So Suite Amnesia set at the Tipton Hotel in short story form.**

I stretch my arms wide and smack my lips. The sun seems to lick the walls around my bed. "Cody... You awake?" Ah never mind. He's always awake before me. All of the sudden I notice everything was out of place. I wonder why Cody hasn't cleaned it yet... Whoa, why is Cody crouching by that wall? Why does he look so scared?

"Buddy, are you okay?" He looks at me and I see no recognition in his eyes. There's bookshelf lying on the ground next to him and he has a bruise near his temple. "...Mom!" Mom comes running in and I motion towards his forehead and she gasps.

"Zack what happened? What did you do?"

"Nothing! I just woke up!"

"Oh honey," she started towards him and he tried to push himself further away from her. "Does he remember us Zack? Usually those injuries cause amnesia..."

"Cody... Cody it's me, your twin Zack..."

"W-w-who are you..." He's breathing so hard I think he might hyperventilate.

"It's okay...we're your family," I reach out to touch his shoulder in reassurance but he shrinks away from my touch. Mom runs out of the room and I look back at Cody. He's grabbing his legs and rocking back and forth. I feel bad for the little guy. Even for him, he's never been this vulnerable.

Mom returns with a scrapbook in her hands. I watch her put it on the ground and slide it to him. He picks it up cautiously, and his eyes widen as he starts turning faster, seeing himself in every picture no doubt. I walk over to him and he doesn't try to crawl away. I point to the pictures, "Your name is Cody, my name is Zack, we're twins, and she's our mom."

"How come I don't know you...?"

"You hit your head real bad." He rubs his forehead, clearly confused. I spot our mom out of the corner of my eye leave the room. I shrug and start explaining the pictures.

"Why is your hair red?" He asks.

"That's you," I snort.

"Oh."

"You wanted to look different than me because whenever I did a prank or something, you would get in trouble too since nobody could tell us apart."

"Why'd I choose bright red?"

"The box had said a honey-mist-auburn. But you missed auburn completely!" I start to hyperventilate this time – with laughter. Cody didn't join in but I didn't blame him. This is all new to him. Ugh, I already miss the old Cody.

"What happened here Zack?" My name sounds awkward coming from his lips and I wince. "Uh, that was when you went to Camp Knock-A-Number, a nerdy math camp. My twin telepathy was acting up that week so I thought you were in trouble. I came straight away to get you."

"Twin telepathy?"

"Yeah, it's when we can have silent conversations within our minds. It's like my brain is getting a phone call from you." I chuckle quietly while he closes his eyes and scrunches his face. I shouldn't be messing with him...he doesn't get the joke.

"Can you hear me," he whispers. "Must be acting up again," I look away and out the window. Tomorrow we have school; I hope he remembers everything soon.

"He has suffered a severe head injury. He does have amnesia but he hasn't lost his semantic memory. Like every Hollywood movie you've seen?" The doctor looks up from his clipboard.

"What's sem-whatever?" I tilt my head and squint my eyes. "Semantic memory is the basic knowledge of the world. He still remembers how to breathe, eat, do math..."

"Could he still play video games," I ask, my hopes rising. Maybe this wouldn't be all that bad if I could still beat him fair and square. "I'm afraid not my boy. It seems too social and intimate to his family members. It would be very rare if he remembered anything you two did together."

Mom put a hand on my shoulder as I sigh. I'd have to re-teach him everything! And he wasn't good in the first place. "Just a reminder, IF he regains his memory-"

"He will," I answer confidently. "WHEN he regains his memory, I have to warn you, he may never be the same again."

My eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head. He would never...be the same...again? Cody: my happy go lucky brother with his plucky stick-to-it attitude? He may never love me the same again... I run out of the room, and I hear footsteps behind me. I don't know who it was, I don't care! I don't cry but my teeth break through the skin on my bottom lip.

It was probably my fault; I am the one who leaves messes on the floor, waiting for him to clean it up. I am so selfish! When the footsteps catch up to me, I look up and it's my mom. I hug her automatically and then the tears are flowing. "It's gonna be okay honey, shhh..." Her chest rumbles against my head and I sniffle. "Cody will pull through, I'm sure of it," she kisses my forehead.

We head back inside to fetch Cody who probably is sitting in the waiting room, alone. "Cody!" I ran and almost tripped on my way over and grabbed his hand. I didn't feel him resist at all like he usually does when I tug him around like a rag doll. "I'm going to teach you how to play video games!"

"This is the video game we play all the time," I hand him the box and he reads the back of it. "I pummel you every time."

"Really," he raises his eyebrows and lowers the box to listen to me. "Yeah you were always really bad,"

"Oh."

Those are his responses mostly. Sometimes, if we're lucky, he'll ask questions. "Aw man, not again," my voice rang out in the suite. Cody was just smiling. He is beating me by a landslide. This is so unfair, he just learned this!

"How come you're so good now?"

"I don't know," he replies.

He looks more confused than I did, which is to be expected. "Whatever. I almost beat you the tenth time!" I watched Cody smile at my exclamation. "I wish I remembered you Zack. You're a good brother." I gave him a half-hearted smile.

The sad thing is, I was never a good brother to him, I don't deserve to be praised by my innocent brother. He doesn't know any better anymore.

Today is school. I had to remind Cody to hand in his projects that he had been non-stop talking about before the accident. Don't judge, I listen...sometimes... Cody has been told all the pranks I remembered we had done. And while I only remembered an eighth of what we did, it still took around four hours to recite. Mom handed Cody his backpack and I grabbed mine from the floor.

"Did you brush your teeth," she hurriedly asked, "Brush your hair? Pack a good lunch?"

"Yes...mom," I listened in as he stumbled over his words. "You have a good day okay?" She kissed his forehead then turned to me with her hands on her hips. "You introduce Cody to his friends. Be nice and tell them to be nice too."

"Can I get a dollar for the vending machine," I asked, trying to change the subject. I'm really annoyed with the favouritism she's been showing. "Have you been listening to a word I've been saying?" Her eyes bore down on me and I shivered. "Yeah, c'mon Cody lets go," I huff and grab Cody's arm on my way out.

"You really shouldn't get mad at her Zack, she's trying her best," Cody explained, his hands went deep into his pockets. "She's showing favouritism again. Man I hate when she does that." "Oh." Cody became quiet. I always wonder what he's thinking when he does. I sling my bag over on one shoulder and start towards the bus that had just arrived.

"Welcome to middle school."

When we got to school, I had to stop Cody from looking at everything because I was afraid he would get whiplash. "Keep your eyes on me," I held his head in a steady position. I got him to laugh for a second. I also notice him staring at every passing girl. He once even leaned over and whispered this into my ear, "She's hot."

This isn't him. He never flirts with girls, unless they're his girlfriends. Maybe I should've mentioned to him that he has a girlfriend... "What do you say when to flirt with girls again?" He tapped my shoulder while his head followed a sophomore.

"I either go: 'hey sweet thang!' Or I go: 'are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only ten, I see!"

"Oh that IS good," he grins and heads off.

That's my boy. I had given him a complete lecture on my ways to flirt with girls. I could write a book on it…nah, too much work. I make my way over to the wall and lean on it casually, waiting for Cody to come back. "Hey Zack," I hear a female voice beside me and before I look, I take a professional move, "Hey sweet th-" I instantly stop because I see Cody's girlfriend, Barbara standing there. I breathe out slowly, remembering our last awkward moment. We had accidentally kissed...yes ah we don't talk about it.

She was the first one to collect herself and she continued, "Have you seen Cody?"

"Yeah I got to tell you something...he uh..."

"He what!?"

Before I could explain, Cody come back at the worst time ever, arm around the girl he had spotted. He didn't acknowledge Barbara and talked directly to me. "Zack, this is Bianca! I think we're really hitting it off." Bianca smiles widely at me. Cody then whispers in my ear again for the second time, "From now on, we're fourteen."

I wait for Barbara to stomp on his foot, like she usually does. There it goes...and Cody's knee comes up with blinding speed and right into my gut. Ouch. "Oof," I clutch my stomach and Cody hops away on one foot. Bianca looks confused and leaves suddenly. I shake my head, baffled at her sudden exit. What? Good for Barbara though, she got a combo strike!

"Who...was that? Ow..." Cody jumps over to me. "She...is, well was...your girlfriend."

"Oh." I watch him lower his head, clearly feeling guilty. "No it's my fault, sorry. I forgot to tell you. Don't worry, you can get her back. Just say something sweet to her and she's yours."

"What if I don't want her back?"

"What?" I ask, surprised at his outburst.

"I said; what if I don't want her back?"

"You sure you want to be making big decisions at this moment? You're pretty fragile..." He gives me a glare and I shrink back a little, he is kind of scary right now... He's changing his life completely. The old Cody would have been heartbroken. But the old Cody is gone; replaced with the new Cody who I'm starting to dislike. Where is my brother? Where has he gone?

"Whatever man, it's your life."

"I want to start over, be a different person than I was." I want to talk him out of it; I want him to be himself. "What's wrong about how you were?" He sucks in a breath and explains, "From what you told me, I was a nerd, a crybaby, and very sensitive. I don't want to be that kid, especially if people would make fun of me that way. I was doing a little research, and from what I've read, some kids who are treated that way end in depression. I don't want to end up like that, Zack."

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, my head was spinning. This is news to me. I've treated him like that before; I made sure his life was miserable. He might have been depressed, I can never know, not anymore. I gesture for him to continue walking and we head to our homeroom class silently. The walking soon turned into running after we heard the second bell.

After home room, I grabbed the note from my bag and took Cody to his next class. He looked a little scared since I had to leave for my class and he'd be alone, but he tried to hide it, I could tell. We walk in the room and everybody stares. It's the two of us and not just Cody this time. They whisper to each other as we walk up to the front.

I hand the teacher dude the note and he reads it over. He looks from me to Cody and then back at the note. "Zack Martin, pull up a chair, you can stay in this class with your brother, and I will clear it up with the office later." We stand there awkwardly for about two minutes and he coughs, "Sit."

I tell Cody to find his desk while I grab a chair. This was new, I've never witnessed this happen in a classroom before, much less experienced it first-hand. Maybe it was just the teacher. I drag the chair over to Cody's desk loudly and the teacher gave me a stern glance. Me and Cody chuckle but quiet down when he takes a step forward in our direction, taunting us. We both knew better than to cross roads with a grumpy teacher; especially one who is giving us special privileges.

I sit down and am poked by a student who is sitting at a desk next to mine. It was Bob! I didn't know he was in this class. Probably because I never asked anyone about their schedules except for my brothers'. Bob whispered to me, "Why are you here?"

"I have to help my brother." I vaguely explained.

"Shouldn't he be the one helping you? I mean his grade average is way higher than yours, no offence."

"None taken," I brush it off, it's true.

"Cody hit his head real hard and-"

"Shh," the teacher scolds us. Cody then elbows me real hard. Bob becomes more hushed so Cody and the teacher wouldn't hear probably. "And he lost all his iq points?" Bob gasps silently.

"No... He has amnesia. Hey wait a minute aren't the two basically the same thing?"

"You figure it out, I don't do math."

"We're in a math class!" I whispered and waved a hand around the room. "Bet you can guess my grades in this class then," he nudged me.

I shook my head and turned to Cody. "That's our friend Bob," I whisper to him and point to my red-headed friend. Cody gives a small wave and Bob grins widely. "Do you remember this teachers' class?" I ask in curiosity. Cody shifts and props his head onto his right hand. "No, but all the stuff he's writing down I already know. It's way too easy."

"It's because nobody showed up for your university level math class. So we convinced you to take it at your own grade level."

"But I don't want to be a nerd anymore."

"Too late buddy, you've already been labeled, and you can't erase your knowledge."

"Whatever. I'll prove to everybody I can be cool and smart at the same time."

The day went by quickly. Cody got through all his classes without a problem all thanks to yours truly. I feel like I'm paying him back for all those times I've been mean to him. But he doesn't know it because he can't remember…which is good for me I guess.

Bob had thankfully kept quiet, but Cody hadn't. He told all the girls about his amnesia and they had clung to him like jelly on peanut butter. Good for him. Barbara always seemed to hurt him when he bragged, and I don't think it was in love.

"Hey Cody, I'm gonna head on the bus before it leaves. I'll tell mom you're walking." I start to skip away and I look back to see Cody backing away from his girls and running to me. "Come on, we're gonna miss the bus."

When we get home, we walk in to see our mother, covered in flour. "Oh no, you haven't been cooking have you," I ask my mother cautiously. "Well I wanted to bake a cake for Cody's first day of school!" I turn to see Cody with a huge grin on his face. "Why are you punishing him? He hasn't done anything wrong."

She puts her hands on her hips and gives me a stern look. I put my hands up in self-defense, "What, we all know how bad of a cook you are. Remember that one time, there was plastic cooked into the cake? I was barfing for a week."

"Well I give up anyways. I'm not sure if I want to tell you what happened to the last one," Mom sheepishly half smiled. Cody spoke up, "I think I can figure it out..." I glance to where Cody was pointing and it looks like someone had a paintball game with cake batter in the kitchen.

"Did it explode?" Cody chuckles loudly in the background. "You don't want to know," Mom replied. "How about we go out for dinner instead?" I suggest. "Yeah mom, please?" Cody joined in. "I guess I could scrape up some money. Use our emergency fund. This is a bit of an emergency."

"Yeah we're starved."

For the next week and a half, mom was being extra lovey-dovey...to my brother, AND my friends too! I've had enough with my brother being treated like a king, and me being the lowly brother.

"Hey Cody, want to head to the movies?" Bob had walked over to me and Cody at school. "What about me," I asked; arms out at my sides in bewilderment. "Only have two prepaid tickets sorry. If you want to come you're going to have to pay."

"You know me Bob, I never have money," I leaned in so only he could hear, "Why don't you make Cody pay for the not prepaid ticket?" Bob had frowned and whispered back, "He's handicapped, that would be cruel!"

These situations have been happening frequently. Hey, what if I had amnesia? Then he'd be left in the dust and I would be in the spotlight! But...how would I do that? I could smack my head against the wall but that's too obvious it was on purpose. Maybe if I fell down the air conditioning vent...nah, I probably wouldn't be able to get out, and I may get more than just amnesia. Last try, how about falling down the stairs? It's a pretty common thing, high risk for amnesia... Okay got the plan down. I just hope that I don't chicken out.

"Zack, are you okay," Cody asks me. It's Saturday morning and we have no school.

"I'm fine," I spit.

"I just got a date every single day of the week! Are you proud of me?"

"Yeah…sure," I mutter.

"Oh." He obviously caught my sarcasm and his head lowers. He's playing the guilt card like mom always does. I'm not falling for it.

He sits down on the bed and starts going through the scrapbook with our past memories. "What's this one?"

"Which one," I come over and he's pointing to a picture of me and Max after the first dancing competition before the finals when we were twelve. "We were doing a dance competition called Go Dance USA, and we almost won."

"What happened?"

"I hurt myself after Max told me I shouldn't so I asked you to fill in." "And so I did didn't I?" "Yup, then you tried to do this one move Max told you not to do and fell off the stage I think. Then when mom and I came in, mom told them who was who and we were disqualified."

"So it was my fault we lost?"

"No, it was mine. I finally realize that now. You know, we should listen to Max more often…" Cody leans on his hand and props his elbow on his knee.

"Ugh I hate having amnesia."

"You do," I raise my eyebrows. "Yeah, I just want to know who I was, who you were. I hate hearing about something we've done and then not remembering it. You wouldn't want the feeling."

"But you're getting all the girls, isn't that good?"

"I guess, but it doesn't feel right or natural."

"It never was, for you. You were never one to get the girl every time, you loved school, you were always good at cooking, and you always followed the rules. You're behaving so differently that I don't know you anymore..."

"I-I'm trying Zack, you don't know what it's like." I want to.

I stand at the top of the stairs and take a deep breath. Who cares what Cody says. He didn't want it to happen, but I do and I know I'll like it. I start towards the stairs and back up again. I'm not sure if I can do it. I wonder if I'll even remember if I wanted to have amnesia. Maybe I'll hate it like Cody.

"Hey Zack what are you doing?" I turn to see my true love, Maddie.

"Huh? Oh...um...hey sweet thang!"

"For the last time, you're too young for me. And why are you at the stairs, don't you usually take the elevator?"

"Yeah, mom had a talk with me about my laziness," I made up an excuse on spot.

"Can I ask you something Maddie?"

"Sure what is it?"

"My friend...Mack has a problem with his younger brother."

"Oh really," Maddie crossed her arms. "His younger brother...uh...broke his leg and is getting all the attention from his mom and his friends. He's thinking of breaking his own leg on purpose so he can stop being ignored."

Maddie gave a smile, "Mack's brothers' leg will heal in time and things will be back to normal. If the injury happened and he's in a lot of pain, Mack should realize how much his brother needs him right now."

"You're right," I smiled.

"Zack does this have anything to do with your brother and his accident?"

"Was it the name I chose?" She chuckled, "Something like that. The thing you should be doing right now is being with your brother at his weakest moment."

"Oh…then I know what to do now! Thanks Maddie," I hugged her and my arms only reached up to her waist. She hugged me back and I left in a hurry.

I run into our suite, ignoring my moms' reaction to my outburst, and rush into our room. Cody's lying on his bed, looking through the books that are piling up beside him. I immediately jump next to him and hug him. "Zack...can't...breathe..." I let go and sigh, "Cody I'm sorry for the way I've been treating you these past two weeks. I guess I've just been a bit jealous."

"Why were you jealous? He asks me sincerely.

"Because you were getting all the attention, and I know I've been selfish but I just want to apologize. We're gonna have a heap of fun today. C'mon!"

That afternoon, we all went to the movies (Cody lent me money), we played video games (I won!), and we trashed the lobby. Things were back to normal. Cody was himself, well…as much as he can be since his memory's still wasn't back.

"I had fun today Zack. Thanks for pulling through." We are on the floor in our room with our pyjamas on, almost ready for bed. "My pleasure, I had fun too," I smiled genuinely.

"I'm glad I got to participate in the sweet life of Zack and Cody. Now that I know what it's like to have our adventures again, I never want to forget that feeling." I smiled and turned off the lights.

"G'night Cody," I climb onto my bed and pull the covers up to my chin.

"Night Zack," came his reply.

I awoke unwillingly. I felt this weird presence above me when I was sleeping. When I slowly open my eyes, the image soon clears. It's Cody.

"Zack!"

"Ugh...Cody, I'm trying to sleep." I turned myself away from him but he just walked to the other side of the bed and hovered above me again. "What do you want," I gave up and kept my eyes open. He grinned and spoke finally, "I remember everything!"

I sit up with all ears, all sleepiness gone, and it's replaced with pure excitement.

"Prove it."

"Okay there was this thing we did you didn't mention. We went to a baseball game and Moseby became the most hated man in Boston because the Yankees won because of him."

"You could've asked anyone that."

"Okay what about when you took a picture of the 20000$ kiss? No one knows about that. Remember, mom would've been fired if anybody knew about that." My eyes widened and I embraced him tightly again.

"You're back!"

THE END


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